another Godless documentary

This is not the same ‘Godless’ as the documentary made by Staise Gonzalez. It’s a different piece with the same name.

A couple years ago, a Canadian film crew came to record our Fellowship of Free Thought meeting for a documentary on atheists. We skipped Skepticon that year to be involved. I didn’t feel it appropriate or necessary to be interviewed, but my wife did. Until then, she had never spoken out as an atheist before. At that time, she was afraid of being recognized by her faculty or students. We were assured that this movie would only be seen in Canada. Apparently some copyright condition must have just expired, because on the first day of this year, that video became available on YouTube.

One thing we didn’t know was that the film crew were Christians attempting to present atheism as a religion. We’ve still never seen this film, only pieces of it. I thought it was a shame that my wife gave such an eloquent and moving off-the-cuff interview, and almost all of it was edited away.

Oooooookay. Yeah, that’s pretty pathetic. Sounds like the same shenanigans that Ben Stein pulled, in Expelled.

Hell, the dissemination of this one probably didn’t have anything to do with the copyright expiring. Movies like this aren’t generally made for profit, but to spread a particular viewpoint, just like Expelled. I’m sure that’s the case, with this one ending up on YouTube.

anon1152

I don’t think it’s that bad. I don’t get the impression that there has been creative editing to distort what anyone was saying (though to be sure, of course, I’d need to see what ended up on the cutting room floor). But from what I’ve seen (admittedly, only the first episode) they seem to be trying to get at the real views of the atheists they talk to.

I think they aren’t doing a very good job of proving their point (that atheism is a “religion”). Perhaps if they had a good definition of what religion is from the beginning, that would help. At most they seem to be proving that atheists are human too. (But then, we already knew that).

godlesspanther

I saw Aron in there.

GrzeTor

Atheism itself is not a religion. But the thing called Atheism+ is: it has it core values and dogmas that have to be accepted apriori joining the sect, and that cannot be questioned or falsified at the threat of being thrown out.

The topic isn’t about A+. Please familiarize yourself with the comment policy to avoid any further confusion.

C Tran

I wish people wouldn’t play so fast and loose with what a “religion” is. Where are the angels and magic and mysticism in A+? A+ at most is a club within the atheism club. Christianity is a club too, and so is the Democratic Party. Only one of these is a religion.

I finally watched the whole thing. I think it was pretty balanced. It showed how hated we are i.e. kids in school, people running for politics, people leaveing religion. Unlike “expelled” which was total propaganda, this one was pretty good I thought #for the price#.

To me it makes atheists look like quirky people who say things that bring the hatred on themselves. There is also a real element of trying to portray atheist fellowships as churches.

anon1152

They do try to portray atheism as a religion. But I think that’s due to confusion over what a religion actually is. They seem to implicitly define a religion as something that involves groups of people with similar beliefs who congregate. That category is much larger than religion. Human beings, as human beings come together to form groups with similar beliefs. By that definition, a bowling league is a religion.

I didn’t get the impression that the movie thought we brought hatred on ourselves. Though I suppose we were portrayed as quirky people. I never considered that a bad thing though. So I guess my overall impression is a bit distorted.

They give Christians the last word like they always do when they talk to atheists. We’d be hard pressed to produce enough atheists to give the last word every time they do a story on a religious group. Also, part of the conclusion says atheists can’t resist poking fun whether they should or not.

glodson

I am going to try to watch this when I get home. I want to see how this plays out. I’ve got the sinking suspicion that it will be dishonest. And that bothers me to no end.

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